This project will study the history of the mental hospital in the United States to 1900. It will analyze the reasons for the emergence of the mental hospital, the various methods of therapy in different periods and their connection with the general cultural and intellectual currents of the times, the administrative and financial problems involved, the attitude of society and government toward the mentally ill, social and class differences in care and treatment, the impact of the intellectual milieu upon concepts of mental health and mental disease, the relationship of the community and hospital, the development of state and other types of mental hospitals and the administrative and legal framework in which they operated, regional differences in types of hospitals, and the emergence of psychiatry, psychology, and social work (as well as other allied occupations) as important professions as well as the relationships between these professions. In brief, the basic objective will be to place current issues in the mental health area within a meaningful historical framework. While utilizing standard historical research techniques, this study will also employ an interdisciplinary approach by incorporating the findings and methodologies of other social sciences and related disciplines.